Anthony Braxton and the Tri-Centric Foundation

For all those fans of free jazz, avant garde, etc. WKCR and Anthony Braxton are providing coverage of the 2014 Tri-Centric festival. See www.wkcr.org for more details and schedule. As I broadened my horizons as a listener of improvisational music, I heard about Anthony Braxton. He is one of those innovators who I feel can't be categorized. It's always an experience for me to learn about people like Braxton because it's different and new. I often use youtube to discover his music, and also the music of the composers involved with the Tri-Centric festival. See previous post of a sample of Braxton's work.

 

Anthony Braxton 12+1tet, "9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006"

Three music birthdays this month: Billie Holiday, Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington

There are three very special birthdays this month in the music world; Billie Holiday, April 7, 1915, Charles Mingus, April 22, 1922, and Duke Ellington, April 29, 1899.   WKCR New York City radio 89.9 F.M. www.wkcr.org celebrates these birthdays with 24 hour broadcasts.  They have been doing this for over 40 years, and I've been listening to them for over 25 years.  I highly recommend them.  See www.wkcr.org for details on the broadcasts and further information.

YUSEF LATEEF & ADAM RUDOLPH live in Milan Full

Yusef Lateef recently died in December of last year at age 91.  He had a tremendous career.  I was looking for his albums on youtube, and found this duo with Adam Rudolph which was recorded in Milann, Italy in 2012. 

What will I do with all these records?

I love just about any kind of music, and have been a record collector for many years.  So I have a good collection, far too many to listen to each one more than once, so I have been trying to sell them.  I started on ebay, but in recent years I have been dissatisfied with their policies.  To put it bluntly, they got too greedy with their fees and their control of paypal.  So I decided to look for other selling websites.  Etsy is o.k. but I think it's more for arts and crafts.  I found webstore, which has the lowest fees and conditions, good reviews, and I'm sticking with it.  I have mostly jazz, with some rock, and soul.  I recently added a few more listings.  If you have seen the list, and don't see what you're looking for, send me a wish list; I may have it.  The following is what was added this week:  Eagles, Santana, Dire Straits, a lot of fusion with Chick Corea, Airto, Joe Farrell, Deodato, Eddie Harris, Les McCann, Ray Charles, Third World, Brand X (Phil Collins on drums), Etta Jones, Dinah Washington, Nancy Wilson.

www.FromArmstrongtoZappa.webstore.com

Ornette Coleman and Bix Beiderbecke birthday broadcasts

This month WKCR will be doing two 24 hour birthday broadcasts: Ornette Coleman March 9 and Bix Beiderbecke March 10.  Bix Beiderbecke was one of the early pioneers of the improvised solo.  He was active in the 20's and early 30's, and died much too young in 1931.  Ornette Coleman was one of the inventors of the free jazz movement.  He has had a long and varied career, which is still going strong at age 84.  In 2007 he won the Pulitzer Prize for his album Sound Grammar.  See www.wkcr.org.  I have been listening to these broadcasts for many years, and they are both entertaining and informative.  I don't think there is another radio station in the world that devotes this much time to honor a musician.  If there is, let me know. 

Happy Pharrell Williams upbeat positive music videos

I discovered this video by Pharrell Williams called happy.  It's a really upbeat, positive video with music and dancing.  He filmed people dancing to the music for 24 hours.  It reminds me of music before rap took over, and his voice reminds me of Curtis Mayfield; a high smooth falsetto voice.  Below are a few youtube videos.  The second one is with Nile Rogers, one of the founders of Chic, the band who was big in the late 70's and early 80's.  If you're close to my age and was a teenager in the 70's-80's, you'll remember "Good Times" the big hit from Chic in 1979.

 

 

 

 

Great video of Charles Mingus

I was looking at youtube for an interesting music video, and I found something on Charles Mingus from 1964. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2phw7eXrmCM

THIS TIME IT'S REAL by Tower of Power

I heard this really upbeat song at work that I hadn't heard before.  It was something from Tower of Power, a funk/soul band from California. 

The genious of David Byrne

Hello, everyone, I'm back after a long hiatus.  Do you remember David Byrne from the Talking Heads?  Well he has an amazing blog, filled with stories from his experiences traveling the world, and many other great writings, which makes sense coming from a guy who has many talents, is articulate and creative.  Anyway check it out.

http://journal.davidbyrne.com/